Cheltenham Festival 2009 – Queen Mother Champion Chase Preview
Master Minded turned the 2008 Queen Mother Champion Chase into a procession and became the first five year old to win the event in 49 renewals. The race didn’t look like it was going to be as special as in recent years with no Well Chief, Moscow Flyer or Azertyuiop in the starting line up but Master Minded made sure it was a classic.
Visually, I haven’t seen a better performance over 2 miles in my lifetime. He was foot perfect, went clear from 2 out and beat Voy Por Ustedes by an eased down 19 lengths. Bear in mind Voy Por Ustedes was probably the best horse in training over this distance in recent times, having won the Queen Mother in 2007 as well as the Arkle in 2006. Voy Por did get his revenge at Aintree the following month when the ground came up a bit quicker. Master Minded made a mistake 2 out and couldn’t recover.
The Aintree race played to Voy Por Ustedes strengths being over a longer trip on better ground but then I suppose you could say the same about Master Minded with Cheltenham. With more improvement to come, I’d expect Master Minded to confirm places this time around but I’d certainly not be taking 5/4 at this stage. Voy Por Ustedes currently rates a 4/1 chance which again makes no appeal to me. I know a lot can happen between now and March but unless there is something drastic, I can’t see the prices of these two being a lot different come the day.
The 2008 Arkle winner Tidal Bay could well be the one to pose the most serious challenge to the front two in the market. Arkle winners have a great record in this race for obvious reasons and I fancy Tidal Bay to continue this trend. The current price of 11/2 is probably about right.
I’m not sure what happened to Twist Magic last season. He looked a world beater on his Tingle Creek performance when beating Voy Por Ustedes but he didn’t build on that and was turned over at Ayr next time when finishing 2nd to Tamarinbleu in the Victor Chandler Chase. He followed that with a terrible run in the Queen Mother before winning the Kerrygold Champion Chase at Punchestown. Trainer Paul Nicholls believes he will be a better horse this season and if the ground at Cheltenham is a bit quicker, I wouldn’t rule him out. Of all the horses in the ante post market, Twist Magic is the one I would be most tempted to have a punt on and is available at 14/1 at the time of writing.
Takeroc is also a 14/1 chance but makes a lot less appeal to me than Twist Magic at the same price. His best piece of form is a 6 lengths 2nd to Tidal Bay in the John Smith’s Maghull Novices’ Chase at Aintree. Nicholls will likely get some more out of him this season but the price isn’t big enough for me to warrant a bet.
It’s hard to see either Fair Along or Tamarinbleu troubling any of the principals. For me, Tamarinbleu was a revelation last season. He won the Boylesports.com Gold Cup at Cheltenham in impressive fashion before stealing the Victor Chandler Chase at Ascot under an enterprising ride from Tom Scudamore, but was found out in the Queen Mother as well as the Melling Chase. I’m sure Tamainbleu will win races this season but whether that will be against the best two mile chasers in the country remains to be seen.
Two years ago I thought Fair Along was a very decent animal but it turns out he’s a bit of a dog. Maybe Phillip Hobbs can get him back to his best but he’s just put in too many erratic performances to carry any of my money.
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Tags: cheltenham 2009, master minded, queen mother champion chase 2009, voy por ustedes